So, the details....
DAY ONE
Flight to Honolulu was very nice. The Dutch national softball team was on the same flight. They seemed very relaxed and excited about going to Beijing this summer.
I landed and found one of the other chaperones, Linda from Virginia. Very sweet lady. A bunch of the students and I shuttled back to the hotel, where I was immediately introduced to the tour director, Ute. Also very sweet. I put my bags to the side and started "working". One of the departing chaperones took me and some kids on a walk, so they knew how to get to the beach and the place where we would eat breakfast every morning.
I then proceeded to do this walk three times in a row. Fun. While the kids who came early were getting sun on the beach, I spent some hours waiting for Linda to send students back to the hotel and Richard, the other chaperone, to arrive. I handed out room keys.
At some point, we ate dinner and went over the rules of the trip, i.e. curfew (they didn't like 11pm at all), room responsibilities, etc. Then, we did a bed check and went to bed. Yeah!
DAY TWO
We went on an island tour. So, we were off at 8am, after eating breakfast at Perry's (down the street). We drove past Diamond Head, stopped down below for some photo ops. Carried on to the Halona Blow Hole (don't be nasty now), but we did see some whales way out yonder. :) Then, we drove to Kailua Beach and spent three glorious hours there and had lunch. A little volleyball, a little game of chicken, a lot of relaxing. We got back in the bus and drove to North Beach and saw the massive waves. Seriously... they are so cool and big. And right up against the shore too.
One girl didn't want to get out of the bus. All she said was that she was afraid of waves. When she got out of the bus, I saw her clinging to the sidewalk, not going to the beach. She was crying a little. I went over to her and she told me she had survived the tsunami in Thailand. Foot in mouth syndrome a la Liz. I calmed her down and she went back in the bus. Bond created.
Then, it was on to Haleiwa for some shrimp and shave ice. Super yum - ate it all week. Pretty much. Back on the bus and drove down the middle of the island, past the Dole Plantation (bathroom stop only) and back to Honolulu. Because of traffic, we didn't want to kids to get bored. So, Ute suggested "American Idol". Que? I got hold of the mic and asked each of the countries to come up to the front and sing a song from their country! It was.... a lot of fun. Countries that took part: Norway, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Japan, Palestine, Brazil, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Argentina, and the USA! There was a tie between the guy from Argentina and the guy from Kazakhstan. Both sang very romantic songs... and there are more girls than guys on that bus. Go figure.
Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. More yum. Walk back to the hotel, some free time until bed checks and then bed!